The invention relates to a motor vehicle having a driver assistance device, which is designed to drive the motor vehicle independently during a journey of the motor vehicle and which in this case is switchable between at least two assistance modes which differ from one another in a degree of the independence of the driver assistance device during the driving of the motor vehicle.
Driving the motor vehicle denotes firstly the steering of the motor vehicle (following a course of a road, orienting the motor vehicle within a lane, lane change maneuver), which is also designated as transverse driving, and secondly the control of the driving speed of the motor vehicle (acceleration, braking, emergency braking, maintaining speed), which is also designated as longitudinal driving.
A driver assistance system of the type mentioned is known from DE 10 2010 022 433 A1. According to that, a driver assistance system in a fully automatic assistance mode can perform the driving of the vehicle completely independently. During the journey, the driver of the motor vehicle then does not have to operate either the steering wheel or the pedals of the motor vehicle and can therefore devote his/her attention to other things for a comparatively long period of time, such as the operation of an infotainment system, for example.
Independent driving of the motor vehicle should also be understood to mean a partly automatic assistance mode, in which the degree of the independence of the driver assistance system during the driving of the motor vehicle is reduced and which can then include, for example, merely the functionality of adjusting the driving speed of the motor vehicle to a setpoint or set speed that the driver predefines by setting a value of the corresponding driving parameter of the driver assistance system (driving speed control).
A further desirable assistance mode is the autonomous driving of the motor vehicle by a driver assistance device. In contrast to the fully automatic assistance mode, in the autonomous assistance mode, the driver assistance device also decides what values are to be implemented in the case of the driving parameters (setpoint distances, setpoint speed) for a driving maneuver currently being performed and/or what driving maneuvers (lane change, turning, parking and the like) are to be performed. In the fully automatic assistance mode, by contrast, provision is made for the driver to stipulate via a user interface what driving maneuvers are to be performed and/or what distances and speeds in the case of a driving maneuver currently being performed, by the driver assistance device, are intended to be adjusted when traveling in a lane. Another difference between the two assistance modes may be how the driver assistance device reacts in the event of an unforeseen development in the traffic situation, that is to say if safe driving by the driver assistance device is no longer ensured. In the fully automatic assistance mode, provision is then made for the driver assistance device to deactivate itself and to pass control of the motor vehicle to the driver, whereas in the autonomous assistance mode the motor vehicle is brought to a safe state by the driver assistance device itself by e.g. stopping the motor vehicle.
Depending on the instantaneously active assistance mode during the journey, a driver of the motor vehicle has the impression that specific driving tasks are carried out by the motor vehicle independently without said driver's control. In this case, for each assistance mode in which the driver assistance device can be operated, it must be ensured that it is always clear to the driver to what degree the driver assistance system monitors and drives the motor vehicle, what intervention possibilities are still provided for the driver himself/herself during the driving of the motor vehicle, and what driving tasks the driver must necessarily perform himself/herself. If the driver loses track here, the driver's safety can be jeopardized. By way of example, if the driver imagines that the driver assistance device is in the fully automatic assistance mode and the driver therefore releases the steering wheel in order to deal with the infotainment system, the vehicle may in this case leave the lane because the driver assistance device is e.g. not activated at all, that is to say that a fully manual manner of driving is demanded of the driver (therefore designated here as manual assistance mode).
The spectrum of the independence of the driver assistance device (automation spectrum) extending from manual travel through partial and full automation as far as autonomy, in terms of its complexity, in the future, is intended to be transparent to the user and operable in a comprehensible manner for the user. A manageable complexity of these four assistance modes mentioned, a clear delimitability of the individual assistance modes and characteristic operating modalities within the individual assistance modes are important properties of future operating concepts. While established operating elements such as buttons, steering wheel or levers are available for partial automation (e.g. driving speed control, active lane control, i.e. lane keeping assistance), to date there have only been conceptual approaches for the prototypical operation of full automation and autonomy. These approaches are often merely supplementations or extensions of existing operating concepts and constitute isolated standalone solutions. Such standalone solutions generally amount to nothing more than mere functional integration into existing operating elements, which leads to an increase in the functional density of the individual operating elements and is therefore not expedient owing to the diversity and complexity of the resultant operating devices. The handleability and functional diversity of current operating elements have already been exhausted.